9 Comments so far

i rely cnt understand the depth of this issue..is it made to save the passive smokers or help people to quit smoking or help cops to earn some quick pocket money or is the health minister banking on the votes of the women community of india??…wateva be it ,its very difficult for chain smokers to call it quits and they get pissed off wen they dnt get a chance to smoke wen they wnt..would this reflect on their work and families??..well the govt needs to bulid rooms jus meant for smokers..

yawn! another useless piece of shitty law that will not be implemented and another great way for cops to bust into clubs and make Rs. 40000 per night as bribe and share the lot in the police station cells. I pity Pasha, Dublin, Speed and Sparks. Their days are just not gonna get any freaking brighter, for all that liquor tax money they pay to the government.

If i remember right, this publicity stunt is the third time its being played since 2001? Back in my NIIT days in perambur my NIIT class mates payed 30 to 50 bucks to K1 police station cops for being caught smoking in tea kadai. Then in 2003 when i started working, my colleagues payed like 100 (apparently we are call center folks and we are filthy rich bastards according to the cops) and now i expect this to be a 200 rupee bribe.

At least im safe, i dont smoke and i have a sarcastic pleasure in saying so. lol!

I actually see a pattern here, first its closing disco’s and pubs which sell good liquor (instead of the IMFL crap from tasmac that sells kerosene fragrance, apple branded MGM vodka) at 11.30. The there is moral policing about girls not going to pubs and getting arrested and warned about not being a homely girl with culture at 2 AM in the morning, then there is this ban on smoking now in pubs? I mean PUBS?!?

What next? I should have sex with my wife only in the bedroom in nalla neran as prescribed by astrologers and not in the living room, kitchen nor take a shower with her? I think our cops have Ph.D’s in moral policing from the Taliban International University of mindless innovations.

We’re being demanded 120 bucks to drive from velachery TCS to t.nagar bus stand and none of the auto guys use the meter, itha kekka thuppu illa. They come worry about passive smoking in Pubs. Why don’t these losers understand that those who go to a PUB don’t give a damn about passive smoking?

Wouldn’t we stay at home and drink pepsi and eat lays chips if we really cared? Where do they get their sense of morality from? A penthouse porn DVD? Where does their brain lie, in their underwear’s?

Well in a sense, I probably would differ form others in saying its a good law to pass.
Smoking is injurious and kills people. Just that. Children specially get attracted to it, it is pseudo cool. And banning to smoke in public is a good law.

We cannot stop making laws because a few of the police men are corrupt! That is the wrong way of looking at it. We need to pay them better, treat them better and instill in them to stop accepting bribes. Not easy, not easy at all. But that should be the goal.

@nivikumar: by saying "We cannot stop making laws because a few of the police men are corrupt". What stats do we have to prove that a "FEW" policemen are corrupt? I fear we have none. To the best of my knowledge every cop will take money to get to have things your way. There is no point blaming the cops either. When a cop is paid 9000 – 12000 rupees a month and he needs to police citizens who make about 5 times as much as he does, he needs access to more resources and more motivation to do such a high risk job.

The point of argument is not about the fact weather or not public smoking is a good or a bad law. Anyone who claims banning smoking in public places is bad is illogical. Smoking, especially passive smoking is injurious to health and it needs to be brought under control. However what we are looking for is relevancy and consistency, something India does not know in ages.

1. Relevancy: Banning smoking in BARS and CLUBS is stupid. People go to these places to smoke and drink. Banning smoking in pubs is like making secularism talks a part of all prayer recitals in mosques, temples and churches. They have nothing to do with each other. You cannot recite all gods are equal and all religions are equal, not at least in a church or mosque. They have the concept of infidels. Where do we take our secularism talk in these places? See the relevancy? Its totally irrelevant. We need to ban smoking, but not in places MEANT for smoking, PUBS certainly not. I don’t smoke, but i don’t mind people smoking when i step into a disco/pub. I’m an atheist, i don’t claim free speech and go to a church and ask them to stop the prayer mass. See the relevancy? If was so concerned i should not go to a place where people want to smoke in the first place and then act like a wussy and claim their active smoking makes me smoke passively, that is madness at its best.

2. Consistency: How well are we going to implement these laws? What accountability can we dictate on our cops so that they will uphold the law vehemently? What did we do with the SAME law that we passed twice? First in 2001 and the again sometime in 2003. Why did the law not work then? What different is it now from then that makes the government think it will work seamlessly, or at least half as better as last time.

We have no answers for any of these questions. No one is against the law. People are against the way its being implemented and how well it be implemented. Its about consistency and relevancy.

This ban came from the push made by the Health Minstry,(Anbumani). I dont understand the concept here, it can be sold but not consumed in public?. The govt itself will sell liq, but they say it not good for health. One of the best know govt website after railways is this http://tasmac.tn.gov.in/ … Wonder how if this is possible not other good areas be covered in similar fashion.

Guess India is not the only country to have got this ban in. Ireland already has it in. The law sounds good on paper but the implementation part is where the whole issue lies especially with our corrupt cops,who even take Rs.5 as bribe[I paid that 2months back].The government should mark out places as smoking zones and provide facilities,may sound impractical but they do make tons of money from cigarette sales so why not bring in smoking zones.

The snap looks good,cant imagine tasmac going off it is giving in loads of revenues..probably we will have a rule like you can buy in Tasmac but should not drink alcohol.